Madoff investors gain back $2.48 billion

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More than $2.48 billion in additional funds recovered from the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme have been sent to individuals and organizations bilked out of their investments.

Checks ranging from $1,784 to $526 million were mailed on Sept. 19 to 1,230 former customers of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, according to the Madoff Recovery Initiative. The average payment will be about $2 million.

The new sum adds to the $1.15 billion already recovered.

Irving Picard, trustee for the liquidation of Madoff Investment Securities, said in a statement that he has recovered $9.15 billion, or 53 percent of the $17.3 billion he believes was lost in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, according to Reuters. Those efforts will continue, he said.

In 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 felonies for fabricating nearly $65 billion in profits to attract investors. He is serving a 150-year sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina.

His Ponzi scheme hit numerous Jewish philanthropies and investors particularly hard. Among those who suffered were Hadassah, the Elie Wiesel Foundation and the American Jewish Congress.